Readings: Proverbs 4:10-23 | Galatians 5:16-24 | Luke 17:11-19
Text: Proverbs 4:10-23
We’re starting to see a pattern: Jesus points out Samaritans. Is it that He’s showing favorites? Are they the Good Teacher’s pet? Not because of who they are, but because of what they demonstrate. A flesh-and-blood story teaches much more effectively than a set of instructions.
- The Samaritan last week demonstrated faith by his works of mercy. (Luke 10)
- This Samaritan healed of leprosy demonstrates faith by recognizing the work of God in Jesus Christ.
- Elsewhere in the Gospel, the Samaritan woman in John 4 teaches by coming to faith and sharing about Jesus, so that members of her community come to know the “savior of the world” (John 4:42).
But really, it’s not about the Samaritans as a whole, just as much as the Word of God is not for any particular division or kind of person. It’s for all people. But these Samaritans give us role models to follow. So, if our role models in godly understanding happen to be unpopular with the leading figures of their day, then I suppose we’re in good company today.
Returning to the Old Testament lesson from Proverbs 4, there’s a common phrase that’s used to depict the difference between a right faith and error. Like with the Samaritans, it’s something demonstrable that you can see by the way it is lived out.
10 Hear, my son, and accept my words,
that the years of your life may be many.
11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
12 When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
13 Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.
Due to massive neglect, it has been forgotten that fathers teach their sons the way of wisdom. Sometimes, in spite of their inaction, they do it by their neglect or foolish decisions. Nevertheless, the truth remains that fathers convey wisdom to the next generation. Without this wisdom from the preceding generation, the sons and daughters will fall for anything. Their lives are short and anxious. Without leaders, they become aimless or rove as mobs. To put it briefly, the Word of God speaks about how they walk. This is the visible demonstration of what is in the heart.
So think about the picture of walking:
- It doesn’t happen overnight. It often comes with many trips and bonks.
- The ideal is that once you learn how to, your walking grows into running, and becomes confident and “second nature.”
- If all goes well, the only things that cause you to stumble and not be able to walk are unintentional, like accidents or injuries.
So, “when you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble” is speaking about a person that when they grow spiritually, they grow wiser and more astute. But as it is with walking, there are choices in which way you choose to go.
If you choose to go on a difficult path, it will be more harder, and potentially dangerous. If you choose the path of the wicked, the outcome is anything but good. The scenery might seem more enjoyable. You will have plenty of company on the way of the wicked. But what your companions don’t know is that it is a path which leads to destruction. But the Christian has been given the light of God’s Word to see the path before them. We are given the caution:
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of the evil.
15 Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
If you’re walking well, it’s just plain unwise to jump off a cliff and break your leg, or drive too fast and get injured in a car crash. However, if our life is pictured as a walk before God, that’s exactly what we do when we play around with sin and the ways of unbelief when we know better. Because we’re made for community, it’s burdensome to know that there are so many people who walk in darkness, bound for destruction. Their darkened heart is their only guide. We want to identify with them, so it’s tempting to let our walk fall in step with theirs [Galatians 5:16-17]. We say that it’s because we love them and don’t want to lose them. But God tells us not to: Avoid it; do not go on it. All their ways are inspired by their darkened understanding. Without God for their identity and guide, they only have their peers.
Well, what if it’s popular? This is exemplified by the recent update to the GOP platform which while it mentioned in points 16 and 17 to push back against divisive (atheist) Marxist ideals of Critical Race Theory and to “keep men out of women’s sports,” it fails to mention the moral imperative of chemical abortions being perpetrated across state lines and the pushes in several states to constitutionally protect the taking of human lives in the womb. This shows that if we walk by what is popular, there is no wisdom. Perhaps a shred will remain, but there is no room for lasting, eternal truth.
18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.
We long for there to be some ally, some group of people in the world with whom we can agree. But the reality is that there is no one apart from the Holy Spirit who will truly know God. We have no spiritual brotherhood with the unbelieving, neither political, nor familial, nor fraternal. The way of wisdom, the way of life, the way of truth is what God desires for all people to walk on, but He especially has our ear. So, this set of proverbs concludes,
20 My son, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
The saying went when I was a kid went, “If Johnny jumped off a cliff, would you?” It was meant by parents and teachers to make you think about the objective consequence over the peer example. But at every age, it remains true: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4) Gee, God, that seems harsh! But it’s not because God is a spoilsport. He wants our good! He wants to lead us in the true way, which leads to life and not death; to faith and grace and not unbelief and destruction! What is truly good for us is the words which come from God’s mouth—”For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.”
So, that brings us to the Gospel reading, where we hear once more of a Samaritan who has an understanding which is unexpected. He sees a literal healing of His flesh, but more important than that is He recognizes that his healing comes from Jesus:
And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19 And he said to him, ‘Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.’”
The thing which set this Samaritan apart was not some special quality in him; it was the work of God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit showed this man the way of truth: it is Jesus alone who is the Savior of the world, the way, truth, and life [John 14:6]; apart from Him, there is no heavenward wisdom, no right way for a person to walk [Isaiah 9:2].
This sets apart God’s way of wisdom from man’s—the way of faith from the way of unbelief: That those who are healed are those who recognize the work of God in Jesus Christ.
Do you recognize Him? Is He just a wonderworker, a good teacher of morals? Or is He something more: Something which we truly need in the forgiveness of our sins, in the One who guides us in our present walk? If so, then we will be blessed. Just like learning to walk correctly, it may take longer, depending on how crippled by sin we were. We may, like the Patriarch Jacob, spend the rest of our lives with a limp, so that every step reminds us that we can only walk by His grace. Although it may seem slow to come, the eternal outcome is sure. Hear the promise given through Isaiah (chapter 40)
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
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